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Lawrence in ArabiaT. E. LawrenceReviewed by Kathy Hare

It’s been 100
years since the start of World War I. Sadly, the historical significance
of the war is usually consigned to that large dustbin of knowledge we
call “ancient history.” After all, what relevance does it have to what’s
occurring in today’s world? Read “Lawrence in Arabia,” by Scott
Anderson, and you’ll understand the answer is – “A lot!”
The “War to End all
Wars,” which took place from 1914-1918, is a prime example of political
ambitions gone awry, wherein generals, kings, prime ministers and
dictators allowed their citizens to be slaughtered wholesale. Then,
before victory was even within reach, France and Britain blithely went
about redrawing the borders of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. (See
the “Sykes-Picot Agreement.”) In their arrogance, they didn’t consider
the cultural, political, or religious differences within the lands they
intended to colonize. Therefore the legacy of their victory is the chaos
that exists in those regions today.
However, a few lone
wolves predicted the consequences of their actions; foremost among them
was T. E. Lawrence. Just the mention of “Lawrence of Arabia” conjures up
Hollywood’s romantic image of a British soldier – gone native- as he
gallops across the sand dunes on a camel with his band of Bedouin
fighters. But as Anderson’s historical account of “Lawrence in Arabia”
proves - war is never romantic, all heroes have their flaws, and wartime
promises are meaningless once victory is achieved.
A veteran war
correspondent, Anderson is best known for his coverage of the war in
Bosnia. In order to compile the facts for this book, Anderson was aided
by a band of historians, who dug into “twenty different governmental
archives…on three continents.” But it’s how the author handled all those
facts that sets this book apart from a standard history lesson.
in his Introduction,
Anderson captures our attention by describing a strange scene that took
place in Buckingham Palace on October 30, 1918, twelve days before the
war ended. Colonel Lawrence had just returned from the Middle East, and
quickly began trying to convince British statesmen to honor the wartime
promises they made to the Arabs who fought for the Allied forces.
Although Lawrence knew he was making little headway, when King George V
summoned him to the palace that morning he thought this might be his
last opportunity to influence the new “postwar borders.”
Instead, the King’s plan
was to make Lawrence a “Knight Commander of the Order of the British
Empire.” As the ceremony began, Lawrence quietly told the King he “was
refusing the honor.” Then, to the horror of all present, the British
hero turned and walked out of the palace. Britons never forgave him. But
by the time you finish reading this book, you will.
Lawrence called the
conflict in the Middle East “a sideshow of a sideshow.” Certainly, as
the war raged on in Europe with the “Allied Forces” and “Central Powers”
expending millions of lives to retake the same ground over and over,
little thought was given to the Arab Revolt in the Middle East.
Therefore, in the absence of military leadership, four young
adventurers, with little or no military experience, took it upon
themselves to fight for their countries’ interests. As Lawrence
crisscrossed the Middle East, he encountered Curt Prüfer, Aaron
Aaronsohn, and William Yale, all of whom played key roles in the
conflict.
Prüfer, a German scholar
attached to the embassy in Cairo, was a dashing “ladies man.” Under the
guidance of his mentor, Count Max von Oppenheim, Prüfer attempted to
incite an Islamic jihad against the British in Egypt, in order to seize
the Suez Canal. Like Lawrence, Prüfer dressed in “Bedouin garb” and
spoke fluent Arabic. Cultivating friendships with Arab leaders, he was
aided by the fact that Germany was the only Christian nation that never
attempted to colonize an Islamic country. His biggest disadvantage was
Germany’s alliance with the Ottoman Empire, which invoked hatred in the
Arabs in spite of being Muslim. While his efforts to seize the canal
were thwarted, Prüfer became the “eyes and ears” of Kaiser Wilhelm II
for the remainder of the war.
Aaronsohn, an agronomist
and “ardent Zionist,” immigrated to Palestine from Romania. He became
famous for making the arid region of Palestine blossom. Using his
agricultural knowledge as a guise, he traveled freely throughout the
Middle East, establishing a successful spy ring with one goal in mind –
to make the British dependent upon his network, thus forcing them to
create a Jewish homeland in Palestine after the war.
In 1917, Aaronsohn
celebrated after reading a short letter from the British Secretary
Balfour. It read: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour, the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and
will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this
object.” The letter became known as the “Balfour Declaration,” but as
history shows, Aaronsohn’s goal would not be achieved until 1948.
Yale, a once rich
American, came to the Middle East before the war to make his fortune by
exploring for oil. At the time, the United States was immersed in
isolationism and few people gave a second thought to what was happening
in Europe or the Middle East. In fact, America didn’t even send
intelligence agents to the region, but The Standard Oil Company of New
York did, and Yale was their man!
In 1914, under the
instructions of his employer, Yale aligned himself with the Ottoman
Empire, until the United States joined the Allied Forces in 1917. Yale
then received a military commission, “but he remained on Standard Oil’s
payroll throughout the war.”
Lawrence, an Oxford
scholar and archeologist, first arrived in the Middle East to work on a
dig in Carchemish, an ancient city located on the borders of Syria and
Turkey. As world events heated up, Lawrence realized the well-armed
Ottoman Empire could not be defeated via head-on combat. Enlisting the
aid of Faisal ibn Hussein, the third son of King Hussein of the Hejaz
(Mecca), they began a guerrilla war that would whittle-away the Turks’
supply lines.
On more than one
occasion, Lawrence saw the political aspirations of France as the
biggest threat to victory. “So far as Syria is concerned, it is France
and not Turkey that is the enemy,” he wrote to his family in 1915.
Lawrence could have been hung for writing those words. But there are
numerous examples to support his view, including the mindless bloodshed
in the Dardanelles, (Chapter 5), and France’s political attempts to stop
“Lawrence’s Army” from capturing the Port of Aqaba. (Chapter 13)
As WWI ended, Arabs and
Zionists became united in their disgust over becoming colonies of
Britain or France. In fact, their hatred of European rulers was so
strong that both expressed an interest in having the United States
control the Middle East. But President Woodrow Wilson wasn’t interested.
However, “to the victors belongs the” OIL! And Standard Oil remained a
player in the region for years to come.
Pay special attention to
the Epilogue, as Anderson outlines why WWI was the main cause of WWII.
Photographs, interspersed throughout the book, allow us keep track of
the major players. However, I was stunned by the lack of decent maps
that could have clearly illustrated the differences between prewar,
postwar, and current borders.
Nevertheless, if you want
to understand why Islamic countries mistrust the Western world, read
“Lawrence in Arabia.” It’s not Hollywood, it’s history!